Thursday, November 6, 2014

Milford Independents Retire Davis and Maroney

The Milford Independent Party was the Kingmaker on two Milford state seats. These were the State Rep. Races for the 117th and the 119th. Congrats to Pam Staneski and Charles Fearraro both of whom were put over the top by the Milford Independent Party. See the local results at the link below. This year marks a new milestone in local politics and the importance of the role the MITC is playing in local politics. Milford for the first time in many years has Two Republican and Two Democrat State Reps in Hartford giving the city balanced representation. To all of you who voted Independent, keep up the good work and keep voting Independent, your vote had a lot of weight this year.

Although victory is sweet for the victors, its only proper we thank those who served and if I can keep your attention a bit longer I think it is only proper that I add some additional clarification on how we ended up flipping 1/2 the state reps in our town.

Clearly this was a bad year for Democrats in general, and try to understand and appreciate that there is going to be some criticism coming from the individuals who were defeated. This criticism is likely going to be shared by their respective political party as well as their campaign leaders and financiers.

Therefore, I will answer those critics by saying what I have always said, that each year an invitation is sent out and shared with the leadership of each respective party with a stake in representing the people of our town. We also send a personal telegram via U.S. Mail inviting every voter registered with the Independent Party. We also notify the City Clerk and do our best to get the local papers to notice our meetings.

The Republicans chose to attend our annual caucus, and the Democrats declined citing issues with the leadership of the Independent party and their belief that we are not representative of the broader party that represents true Independents. This statement was made and documented in the Milford Mirror, see article dated September 23, 2014 written by Jill Dion in the Milford Mirror.

This decision by the Democrats, in my opinion, seems to be in conflict with E-Mails I received from both Kim Rose and Gayle Slossberg, each of which had the endorsements of the Independent party in previous elections. Both Kim and Gayle said they could not attend, citing personal scheduling conflicts. However, Democratic party Chair Richard Smith indicated that THEY decided "not to seek any endorsement of the Milford Independent Party" and had gone on to give his reasons despite the fact that all four of our state Reps Republican and democrat, have, or have had, in the past received our endorsement.

The decision of the Democratic Party leadership to not participate in the 2014 MITC caucus may have been directly responsible for the defeat of two of their candidates, who technically won the election on their own merits but lost the general election on the Independent line, a line that was assigned by handful of registered Independents who voted at the MITC caucus. Their vote was likely due to the fact that they had heard nothing from either Davis or Maroney.

While I often hear harsh criticism by the Democratic party for my personal political views, and my conservative values I always respond with the same statement, that my views are solely my own and not the views of the candidates or the party as a whole. In the past we have endorsed several Democrats including Suzanne Manning, Kim Rose, and Gayle Slossberg (who worked to get the signatures required for the Independent Party State Senate seat in Milford) see HERE for the manning endorsement in 2011.

With this election wrapped up I will conclude that it remains the goal, scope and purpose of the Milford Independent party to push forward with our mission of electing "Honest people" to promote "Honest Government." Our creed is simple, we do our best to choose candidates based on the premise that they do not "lie, cheat, or steal, nor tolerate those who do." The caucuses exist for the sole purpose of having an annual open and constructive bi-partisan forum. One where we encourage the candidates, and current elected officials to constructively confront one another on the issues. The voters at the caucus are encouraged to keep an open mind make their ballot choices accordingly.